Futurism was an early 20th century artistic movement that originated in Italy in 1909, when F.T. Marinetti published his manifesto, Le Futurisme. Futurism emphasizes the power of speed, the machine, and continual production through change in the industrialized world. Futurists celebrated change and speed, and wanted to disregard the past. Though the movement started in Italy, it quickly spread throughout Europe and greatly influenced Russia.[1]
Futurism as a Movement and Its Founders
Top: F.T. Marinetti and bottom: David Burliuk
Italian Futurism
Background
F.T. Marinetti started the Italian Futurism movement in 1909 with the publication of his manifesto, “Le Futurism.”[2] In this text, Marinetti praises both modernity and the technological advances that come with it. His manifesto exhibits violence and conflict through an aggressive tone, and was meant to spark anger among its readers. To embrace the future, Marinetti felt the traditional values of the past should be dissolved, and he called for the destruction of museums and libraries. Main focal points of the movement revolve around speed, machinery, violence, and a rejection of the past.
Futurism is often associated with Marinetti, but the term was first used in a speech given by Gabriel Alomar in 1904. Because of this, critics wonder if Marinetti adopted the term from Alomar. In 1909, Ruben Dario, a friend of Alomar, noticed Marinetti using Alomar's term, but figured it was a coincidence. In 1914, Vicente Huidobro noticed the same thing, but believed Marinetti was plagiarizing. It is possible that the term was created twice[3] . Notable figures in the Italian Futurism movement were F.T. Marinetti, Carlo Carrà, and Gino Severini.
While Gino Severini is regarded mostly as a futurist, his work in Cubism was an important link between artists in France and Italy and came into contact with Cubism before his Futurist colleagues. Following a visit to Paris in 1911, the Italian Futurists adopted a sort of Cubism, which gave them a means of analysing energy in paintings and expressing dynamism.
Russian Futurism
Background
Futurism in Russian began with the futuristic writers group Hylæa which consisted of David Burliuk, Vasily Kamensky, Velimir Khlebnikov, Aleksey Kruchenykh, and Vladimir Mayakovsky. The Hylæa group created a type of poetry that mainly consisted of nonce words as well as abolishing neologistic verse. Also, they were able to make language even more abstract than Gertrude Stein or James Joyce did with their most radical works. The Hylæa’s writing illuminates several boundaries that exist between words and morpheme, sense and nonsense, and reference and impediment. The group’s most extreme works were a product of zaunmi yazuik which is a language that is zaum-like. Eventually they began to use various techniques to test the function of language. The group drew on literary examples and this led to zaum[4] .
In 1912, this group launched the first Russian Futurist manifesto, “A Slap in the Face of Public Taste,”[5] which combined concepts of Italian Futurism with French Cubism. Russian Futurism is similar to Italian Futurism due to how it celebrated speed, technology, and rejected the past—especially art of the past. While Italian Futurism may have continued into other mediums beyond literature, Russian Futurism for the most part remained centered in literature. Futurism in Russia ended in 1930 and was no longer recognizable[6] .
"Revolution" by David Burliuk (1917)
David Burliuk
David Burliuk, the Hylæa group organizer, is often referred to as the “Russian Marinetti.”
Velimir Khlebnikov
While Khlebnikov was a member of the Hylæa group, he contributed to their release of A Trap for the Judge and A Slap in the face of Public Taste. He is well known for being one of the best in the area of zaum and used precision in his zaum poems in order to try to fix meaning[7] . One unique characteristic about Khlebnikov was that instead of exploring the relationship between nature and machinery like his Futurist peers, he explored the relationship between nature and society. This is prevalent in his poems "Grasshopper" and "When horses die, they breathe...." In 1916, Khlebnikov was drafted for the military and his service in combat influence his poetry after he returned[8] .
Vasily Kamensky
Vasily Kamensky started writing in 1904 for the newspaper Perm Territory-- many of his works were published there. At the newspaper, he was introduced to the believers in Carl Marx and furthered his ideas in futurism. He went to prison for helping organize a strike committee for the railway workshops. Afterwards, he went to Moscow and met many prominent figures in the futurist movement.[9]
Kazimir Malevich
Malevich was a Russian painter whose works were abstract and his earliest works demonstrated signs that he was influenced by cubism. In 1912, he began to create his own style of painting that later became known as suprematism[10] and wrote that, “Suprematism originated neither from Cubism nor from Futurism[11] ." His concept for suprematism was influenced by science and seemed to go in that direction[12] . One of his works that is an excellent example of the style he created is "Suprematist Composition: White on White" which is located in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City[13] . Throughout most of his life, Malevich worked to re-find original purity and expanded a literary theory that was tied to language constraints. Malevich also illustrated pamphlets filled with works by Futurists and Cubo-Futurists[14] .
Afro-futurism
Background
Afro-futurism is a combination of elements from science fiction, historical fiction, magic realism, fantasy, and Afro-centricity. The idea behind Afro-futurism is to allow artists in various artistic mediums to express the experience of African American alienation and cultural strangeness through science fiction. The movement, which lacked direction in the beginning of it's creation, evolved during the late 1970s although the movement did not formally start until the late 1990s and early 2000s[15] .
Octavia Butler
Butler's novel Kindred is considered a work of Afro-futurism due to its combination of the science fiction element of time travel with historical fiction regarding slavery. While many consider the novel science fiction, Butler never regarded the piece as being so. The main character, Dana, develops dizzying spells that allow her to travel back in time; "I had said I couldn't do anything to change history. Yet, if history could be changed, this books in the hand of a white man—even a sympathetic white man—might be the thing to change it"[16] . Each time Dana travels into the past, she tries to not change anything specifically anything that could potentially alter the future.
Darryl A. Smith
Smith's short story The Pretended is another work of Afro-futurism. It centers upon robots made to look like African Americans and who have memories belonging to an African American who was once real before white people destroyed the African American population; "To pretend you black, but not people. They thought robots was a good way to make believe that you was black but not people after they couldn’t pretend no more with real black people. Jes take thinkin outa real black people brains, put it into computers, rase the memory a bit, make our talk the way they think it should sound, and piss the whole kit’n’kaboodle into robots" [17] . The phrase "[t]o pretend you black, but not people" demonstrates prejudice and the relationship between races due to white people not viewing African Americans as real people before and after they annihilated the African American population. However, the irony of African Americans being robots after the destruction of their population has to be taken into consideration. Now African Americans are robots and are still not treated equally which was a problem even when they were human.
Opposition and Critiques of Futurism
Charlie Chaplin
In 1940, Charlie Chaplin created The Great Dictator. This film was a satirical piece that protested the rise of fascism and sought to reveal the misguided use of technology that had characterized the early 20th century. While not explicitly directed at Futurism, Chaplin’s final speech critiqued nearly all of its ideas:
"The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost."
Furthermore, Chaplin's comedy, Modern Times (1936), directly addresses the issues with industrialization and modern technology. The film showcases a young man (Chaplin) struggling to keep up in the new modern era as he works at a factory.
Futurism and Architecture
La Citta Nuova, 1914.
The idea of Futurism in architecture was not concerned with the look of the building, but the resources used. Futuristic architects believe that houses should be built with the resources of technology and science. The idea was to strip down all the unnecessary parts of the building and using materials such as concrete and steel. These materials should be raw and hardly changed. They believed that underground spaces and roofs of buildings should be used again. Futurists believed that every generation should build its own city to be harmonious with the environment.[18]
Images are used in accordance with fair use practices.If you hold copyright to an image, and do not agree that its use accords with fair use practices,please contact the wiki's creator and organizer.
^ "Futurism." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 19 Feb. 2012.
^Ester Coen and John Musgrove. "Futurism." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Web. 19 Feb. 2012.
^ Douglas, Charlotte. "Mach And Malevich: Sensation, Suprematism, And The Objectless World." Structurist 49/50 (2009): 58-65. Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
Futurism was an early 20th century artistic movement that originated in Italy in 1909, when F.T. Marinetti published his manifesto, Le Futurisme. Futurism emphasizes the power of speed, the machine, and continual production through change in the industrialized world. Futurists celebrated change and speed, and wanted to disregard the past. Though the movement started in Italy, it quickly spread throughout Europe and greatly influenced Russia.[1]
Futurism as a Movement and Its Founders
Italian Futurism
Background
F.T. Marinetti started the Italian Futurism movement in 1909 with the publication of his manifesto, “Le Futurism.”[2] In this text, Marinetti praises both modernity and the technological advances that come with it. His manifesto exhibits violence and conflict through an aggressive tone, and was meant to spark anger among its readers. To embrace the future, Marinetti felt the traditional values of the past should be dissolved, and he called for the destruction of museums and libraries. Main focal points of the movement revolve around speed, machinery, violence, and a rejection of the past.Futurism is often associated with Marinetti, but the term was first used in a speech given by Gabriel Alomar in 1904. Because of this, critics wonder if Marinetti adopted the term from Alomar. In 1909, Ruben Dario, a friend of Alomar, noticed Marinetti using Alomar's term, but figured it was a coincidence. In 1914, Vicente Huidobro noticed the same thing, but believed Marinetti was plagiarizing. It is possible that the term was created twice[3] . Notable figures in the Italian Futurism movement were F.T. Marinetti, Carlo Carrà, and Gino Severini.
While Gino Severini is regarded mostly as a futurist, his work in Cubism was an important link between artists in France and Italy and came into contact with Cubism before his Futurist colleagues. Following a visit to Paris in 1911, the Italian Futurists adopted a sort of Cubism, which gave them a means of analysing energy in paintings and expressing dynamism.
Russian Futurism
Background
Futurism in Russian began with the futuristic writers group Hylæa which consisted of David Burliuk, Vasily Kamensky, Velimir Khlebnikov, Aleksey Kruchenykh, and Vladimir Mayakovsky. The Hylæa group created a type of poetry that mainly consisted of nonce words as well as abolishing neologistic verse. Also, they were able to make language even more abstract than Gertrude Stein or James Joyce did with their most radical works. The Hylæa’s writing illuminates several boundaries that exist between words and morpheme, sense and nonsense, and reference and impediment. The group’s most extreme works were a product of zaunmi yazuik which is a language that is zaum-like. Eventually they began to use various techniques to test the function of language. The group drew on literary examples and this led to zaum[4] .In 1912, this group launched the first Russian Futurist manifesto, “A Slap in the Face of Public Taste,”[5] which combined concepts of Italian Futurism with French Cubism. Russian Futurism is similar to Italian Futurism due to how it celebrated speed, technology, and rejected the past—especially art of the past. While Italian Futurism may have continued into other mediums beyond literature, Russian Futurism for the most part remained centered in literature. Futurism in Russia ended in 1930 and was no longer recognizable[6] .
David Burliuk
David Burliuk, the Hylæa group organizer, is often referred to as the “Russian Marinetti.”Velimir Khlebnikov
While Khlebnikov was a member of the Hylæa group, he contributed to their release of A Trap for the Judge and A Slap in the face of Public Taste. He is well known for being one of the best in the area of zaum and used precision in his zaum poems in order to try to fix meaning[7] . One unique characteristic about Khlebnikov was that instead of exploring the relationship between nature and machinery like his Futurist peers, he explored the relationship between nature and society. This is prevalent in his poems "Grasshopper" and "When horses die, they breathe...." In 1916, Khlebnikov was drafted for the military and his service in combat influence his poetry after he returned[8] .Vasily Kamensky
Vasily Kamensky started writing in 1904 for the newspaper Perm Territory-- many of his works were published there. At the newspaper, he was introduced to the believers in Carl Marx and furthered his ideas in futurism. He went to prison for helping organize a strike committee for the railway workshops. Afterwards, he went to Moscow and met many prominent figures in the futurist movement.[9]Kazimir Malevich
Malevich was a Russian painter whose works were abstract and his earliest works demonstrated signs that he was influenced by cubism. In 1912, he began to create his own style of painting that later became known as suprematism[10] and wrote that, “Suprematism originated neither from Cubism nor from Futurism[11] ." His concept for suprematism was influenced by science and seemed to go in that direction[12] . One of his works that is an excellent example of the style he created is "Suprematist Composition: White on White" which is located in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City[13] . Throughout most of his life, Malevich worked to re-find original purity and expanded a literary theory that was tied to language constraints. Malevich also illustrated pamphlets filled with works by Futurists and Cubo-Futurists[14] .Afro-futurism
Background
Afro-futurism is a combination of elements from science fiction, historical fiction, magic realism, fantasy, and Afro-centricity. The idea behind Afro-futurism is to allow artists in various artistic mediums to express the experience of African American alienation and cultural strangeness through science fiction. The movement, which lacked direction in the beginning of it's creation, evolved during the late 1970s although the movement did not formally start until the late 1990s and early 2000s[15] .Octavia Butler
Butler's novel Kindred is considered a work of Afro-futurism due to its combination of the science fiction element of time travel with historical fiction regarding slavery. While many consider the novel science fiction, Butler never regarded the piece as being so. The main character, Dana, develops dizzying spells that allow her to travel back in time; "I had said I couldn't do anything to change history. Yet, if history could be changed, this books in the hand of a white man—even a sympathetic white man—might be the thing to change it"[16] . Each time Dana travels into the past, she tries to not change anything specifically anything that could potentially alter the future.Darryl A. Smith
Smith's short story The Pretended is another work of Afro-futurism. It centers upon robots made to look like African Americans and who have memories belonging to an African American who was once real before white people destroyed the African American population; "To pretend you black, but not people. They thought robots was a good way to make believe that you was black but not people after they couldn’t pretend no more with real black people. Jes take thinkin outa real black people brains, put it into computers, rase the memory a bit, make our talk the way they think it should sound, and piss the whole kit’n’kaboodle into robots" [17] . The phrase "[t]o pretend you black, but not people" demonstrates prejudice and the relationship between races due to white people not viewing African Americans as real people before and after they annihilated the African American population. However, the irony of African Americans being robots after the destruction of their population has to be taken into consideration. Now African Americans are robots and are still not treated equally which was a problem even when they were human.Opposition and Critiques of Futurism
Charlie Chaplin
In 1940, Charlie Chaplin created The Great Dictator. This film was a satirical piece that protested the rise of fascism and sought to reveal the misguided use of technology that had characterized the early 20th century. While not explicitly directed at Futurism, Chaplin’s final speech critiqued nearly all of its ideas:"The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost."
Furthermore, Chaplin's comedy, Modern Times (1936), directly addresses the issues with industrialization and modern technology. The film showcases a young man (Chaplin) struggling to keep up in the new modern era as he works at a factory.
Futurism and Architecture
The idea of Futurism in architecture was not concerned with the look of the building, but the resources used. Futuristic architects believe that houses should be built with the resources of technology and science. The idea was to strip down all the unnecessary parts of the building and using materials such as concrete and steel. These materials should be raw and hardly changed. They believed that underground spaces and roofs of buildings should be used again. Futurists believed that every generation should build its own city to be harmonious with the environment.[18]
External Links
3 poems by KamenskyDavid Burliuk
Discussion/History of Russian Futurism
Futurism
Futurist
Futurism Britannica
Italian Futurist Book site
Italian Futurism discussion/history
Velimir Khlebnikov
Tumultuous Assembly: Visual Poems of the Italian Futurists
References
Images are used in accordance with fair use practices.If you hold copyright to an image, and do not agree that its use accords with fair use practices,please contact the wiki's creator and organizer.
Web. 16 Feb. 2012.